Manasseh
Also called Manasses
Manasseh (son of Joseph)
Born 1708 BC traditional (Jones)
The elder of the two sons of Joseph. He and his brother Ephraim were afterwards adopted by Jacob as his own sons (48:1).
From Easton’s Bible Dictionary (1897).
- The 25th generation from Adam, counting Adam as the first.
- Born in the era of the Patriarchs, 1996–1707 BC.
- Named in the same verses as Ephraim, Joseph, Jacob, Machir, Benjamin, Gilead, Simeon, and Adnah.
Computed from the data. Years are traditional (Jones).
Family
Two generations up and the children; a button shows the grandchildren. Gold lines join partners; grey lines run from parent to child; a dotted line marks a parent named in the text but not by descent.
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Places
Places named in the same verses as Manasseh, with the number of verses they share; a larger marker means more. Locations follow OpenBible.info, which grades each identification. A dashed ring on the map marks a region, river, or mountain rather than a town.
- location not graded: Beth-shean2
- likely location: Dor2
- location not graded: Egypt2
- likely location: Megiddo2
- likely location: Taanach2
- location not graded: Gilead1
- likely location: Ibleam1
- location not graded: On1
- location not graded: West Manasseh1
- possible location: Ziklag1
Timeline
The strip runs from Creation to AD 100; the shaded part, 1733–1663 BC, is drawn below at a larger scale around these mentions, with 4 contemporaries. Years are traditional (Jones), shown as recorded, not as settled fact.
Mentions
18 tagged verses in 5 books. Select a book to read its verses.
Later verses tagged with Manasseh are about the tribe of Manasseh, not the man: 91 verses, counted separately.
The name in each translation
| Text | Occurrences of each name |
|---|---|
| BSB | Manasseh 156Manasses 0 |
| KJV | Manasseh 147Manasses 3 |
| ASV | Manasseh 148Manasses 0 |
Whole-word, case-sensitive count of the name string (regex \bName\b, so possessives like "Abraham's" count) across the whole Bible text of each translation; this counts the string, not the person, so other people who share the name are included and pronoun references are not. How Begat counts
Every verse
All 18 tagged verses, by book, in canonical order. The Berean Standard Bible is shown; switch to the King James or American Standard Version.
Genesis9 verses
- 41:51
Joseph named the firstborn Manasseh, saying, “God has made me forget all my hardship and all my father’s household.”
- 46:20
Manasseh and Ephraim were born to Joseph in the land of Egypt by Asenath daughter of Potiphera, priest of On.
- 48:1
Some time later Joseph was told, “Your father is ill.” So he set out with his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim.
- 48:5
And now your two sons born to you in Egypt before I came to you here shall be reckoned as mine; Ephraim and Manasseh shall be mine, just as Reuben and Simeon are mine.
- 48:13
And Joseph took both of them—with Ephraim in his right hand toward Israel’s left hand, and Manasseh in his left hand toward Israel’s right hand—and brought them close to him.
- 48:14
But Israel stretched out his right hand and put it on the head of Ephraim, the younger; and crossing his hands, he put his left on Manasseh’s head, although Manasseh was the firstborn.
- 48:17
When Joseph saw that his father had placed his right hand on Ephraim’s head, he was displeased and took his father’s hand to move it from Ephraim’s head to Manasseh’s.
- 48:20
So that day Jacob blessed them and said: “By you shall Israel pronounce this blessing: ‘May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh.’” So he put Ephraim before Manasseh.
- 50:23
He saw Ephraim’s sons to the third generation, and indeed the sons of Machir son of Manasseh were brought up on Joseph’s knees.
Judges1 verse
- 1:27
At that time Manasseh failed to drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shean, Taanach, Dor, Ibleam, Megiddo, and their villages; for the Canaanites were determined to dwell in that land.
1 Chronicles5 verses
- 7:14
The descendants of Manasseh: Asriel through his Aramean concubine. She also gave birth to Machir the father of Gilead.
- 7:17
The son of Ulam: Bedan. These were the sons of Gilead son of Machir, the son of Manasseh.
- 7:29
And along the borders of Manasseh were Beth-shean, Taanach, Megiddo, and Dor, together with their villages. The descendants of Joseph son of Israel lived in these towns.
- 12:19
Some from Manasseh defected to David when he went with the Philistines to fight against Saul. (They did not help the Philistines because the Philistine rulers consulted and sent David away, saying, “It will cost us our heads if he defects to his master Saul.”)
- 12:20
When David went to Ziklag, these men of Manasseh defected to him: Adnah, Jozabad, Jediael, Michael, Jozabad, Elihu, and Zillethai, chiefs of thousands in Manasseh.
2 Chronicles1 verse
- 15:9
And he assembled all Judah and Benjamin, along with those from the tribes of Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon who had settled among them, for great numbers had come over to him from Israel when they saw that the LORD his God was with him.
Easton’s Bible Dictionary
The full entry, public domain, as printed in 1897.
The elder of the two sons of Joseph. He and his brother Ephraim were afterwards adopted by Jacob as his own sons (48:1). There is an account of his marriage to a Syrian (1 Chr. 7:14); and the only thing afterwards recorded of him is, that his grandchildren were “brought up upon Joseph’s knees” (Gen. 50:23; R.V., “born upon Joseph’s knees”) i.e., were from their birth adopted by Joseph as his own children.
The tribe of Manasseh was associated with that of Ephraim and Benjamin during the wanderings in the wilderness. They encamped on the west side of the tabernacle. According to the census taken at Sinai, this tribe then numbered 32,200 (Num. 1:10, 35; 2:20, 21). Forty years afterwards its numbers had increased to 52,700 (26:34, 37), and it was at this time the most distinguished of all the tribes.
The half of this tribe, along with Reuben and Gad, had their territory assigned them by Moses on the east of the Jordan (Josh. 13:7-14); but it was left for Joshua to define the limits of each tribe. This territory on the east of Jordan was more valuable and of larger extent than all that was allotted to the nine and a half tribes in the land of Palestine. It is sometimes called “the land of Gilead,” and is also spoken of as “on the other side of Jordan.” The portion given to the half tribe of Manasseh was the largest on the east of Jordan. It embraced the whole of Bashan. It was bounded on the south by Mahanaim, and extended north to the foot of Lebanon. Argob, with its sixty cities, that “ocean of basaltic rocks and boulders tossed about in the wildest confusion,” lay in the midst of this territory.
The whole “land of Gilead” having been conquered, the two and a half tribes left their wives and families in the fortified cities there, and accompanied the other tribes across the Jordan, and took part with them in the wars of conquest. The allotment of the land having been completed, Joshua dismissed the two and a half tribes, commending them for their heroic service (Josh. 22:1-34). Thus dismissed, they returned over Jordan to their own inheritance.
On the west of Jordan the other half of the tribe of Manasseh was associated with Ephraim, and they had their portion in the very centre of Palestine, an area of about 1,300 square miles, the most valuable part of the whole country, abounding in springs of water. Manasseh’s portion was immediately to the north of that of Ephraim (Josh. 16). Thus the western Manasseh defended the passes of Esdraelon as the eastern kept the passes of the Hauran.